Sunday, November 28, 2010

Save the life of Amina

Amina Lawal Kurami has a story which is very similar to the case of Safiya or Zafran Bibi.

She is 35 and lives in a peasant family, at the village of Kurami, in Katsina State.

(Katsina is one of the 12 northern states of Nigeria where the majority of population is islamic and where, from the beginning of 2000, the "sharia-law" was introduced.)

Last March 22nd she was sentenced to death by stoning, after being charged with having a baby out of wedlock, after divorcing. Amina Lawal, as she said to the Court, divorced at the beginning of 2001. During the following eleven months she met Yahaya Mohammed, a man living in her village, who promised to merry her. Then Amina got pregnant and at the beginning of 2002 a baby girl was born.

Just people of her village, Kurami, reported her to the police and charged her with adultery.

Sign the Petition to save Amina's Life ....

We express our deep concern over a ruling by the Court in Funtuas, Katsina state in Northern Nigeria, that sentenced Mrs. Lawal Kurami to death by stoning after finding her guilty of so-called pre-marital sex. This decision of the Islamic high court have shocked Nigeria’s growing human rights movement and people around the world. The court confirmed the barbarian judgment imposed upon the unwed mother by a Sharia court in Bakori in March 2002 on charges of adultery.......(Read More)

During the trial, just a few days ago, Amina could not prove that the father of her daughter was the man who had promised to merry her. As a matter of fact "The man she said lured her into having sex denied it," as the official said. She was given 30 days to decide whether to challenge the sentence.

Sharia judge Nasiru Lawal Bello Dayi acquitted the man accused by Amina because she could not produce four witnesses as demanded by the Islamic penal code.

The woman now is admitted to bail and is living in her parents' house, where she's weaning her little daughter Wasila. On August 19th 2002 her sentence to death by stoning was unfortunately confirmed and scheduled to January 2004. Her lawyers, who remain hopeful about her fate, will appeal to the Supreme Court of Nigeria.